A large crowd had gathered near Nicklaus wondering what he was going on about. Nicklaus just kept quiet and waited for his opponent to arrive. His whole body was quivering innexcitment just thinking about the glorious battle that's gonna happen next.
"The Hallmaster has arrived. Make way," someone said and they all parted as if they had agreed to do so at the same time. Nicklaus saw saw a youngman with a sword on his back coming towards him.
"Are you the hallmaster of Defense and Offense sector?" Nicklaus asked him. The man studied him for s moment.
"Yes I am. My name is Theodore Battle or," he answered. Nicklaus almost lost his cool when he heard a badass character like him was name Theodore. That was the name of a fluffy little pet or something.
"Name's Nicklaus," he said next and just went in for the kill.
Theodore was surprised at first but he had good reflexes so he blocked with his sword. A shockwave that threw everyone around them a couple metres away stunned everyone. Nicklaus smiled and started slashing at Theodore using the two sword movement combined. Theodore's eyes shone too as he started retaliating with his own movement but soon regretted it as Nicklaus started using it against him.
"Moon Stance," Theodore suddenly changed his style and it became fluid, evasave and dangerous. Nicklaus matched it with his own speed then he found out he was slippery. Nicklaus laughed in delight and used a movement he gained from the darkness panther.
"Walking Poltergeist," Suddenly, there were three Nicklaus, each identical from their clothes to their swords. They attacked Theodore at the same time and if he was not careful, he would have been split in half for each Theodore was real.
"Fiend spectral," Theodore said and s spectral of a beast formed in front of him. It was four metres tall, back filled with spikes, four sharp clawed hands and massive well toned legs. Nicklaus was having the time of his life.
" Show me more!" he shouted as he attacked Theodore and the others attacked the spectral. Theodore was also pleased with the fight so far but he had a sinking feeling his opponent was toying with him. So he decided to be more serious.
"Beast spectral strength," Spectral of numerous beasts he defeated got into his body and he started growing and becoming stronger. But Nicklaus used that chance to kick him away with shock wave. Theodore was thrown a couple of metres away. Before he could recover, Nicklaus had thrown a Darkness Bomb at him.
"Spectral Armorial," Theodore cried out in urgency. A transparent grey armour covered him suddenly as the Darkness Bomb hit and a potent explosion came next, making the spectators ran off. Theodore walked out of the smoke and dust with s crumbling armour and a smile on his face.
"It appears that I cannot best you without my best technique. Be ready," Theodore said and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Suddenly, pale blue intangible threads of light came from his sword and spread all over his body. He then opened his eyes and his pupils were pale blue too. He suddenly increased his aura and with an explosion, his hair all over his body became pale blue.
"To think he brought out this. The kid must have pressured him and he hates to loose," a middle aged man said as he slipped his tea, watching the whole fight.
"Did you just go Super Saiyan blue?" Nicklaus asked in surprise.
"This is the Dao of the sword, One with the Sword. The sword is me and every part of me is the sword," Theodore said.
"Cool. My turn now, Asura mode," Nicklaus said. Suddenly, a ruthless and murderous aura flared from his body, pressurising everyone there. Nicklaus grew to be three and a half metres tall and four more arms grew from his body. Two more pairs of eyes grew on his forehead and his skin became course red.
"I got this skill battling a great ape. Don't disappoint me," Nicklaus said, his mouth gelled with sharp fangs. His form looked like a reincarnation of a demon. The middle aged man who was sipping his tea was shocked as everyone else.
"To think he can copy the skill of an Asura Great Apr so perfectly. Is he part ape himself?" he asked himself.
Nicklaus roared at Theodore before charging. Theodore's stayed still till a huge did came at him. His hand started moving and there wasa shockwave as a fist and a sword met. Nicklaus started increasing his speed and so did Theodore but he was starting to feel the effects of taking on six arms of pure raw power with nothing but a sword and he he was starting to be pushed back.
"Who the hell is this guy?"
"So strong. Is he from another sect here to humiliate the hallmaster?"
"No, I saw him with the new recruits. He is an outer disciple of the sect,"
"Go like to your mother, shameless bastard. How can an outer disciple be this strong?"
"You gonna keep being on the defense? Let me change that!" Nicklaus said and suddenly, his skin was covered with scales of armour. He had sharp clawed on his fingers and they were dripping venom. "One slash is all I need to kill you a hundred times." This time, the middle-aged man was truly shocked.
"That's the Demonic Lizard'sain skill, scale armour! Who is this boy?" he asked as he got to his feet. Theodore must face felt threatened for he went to the offensive immediately.
"Mountain Annahilation," he suddenly said. A huge sword qi flew towards Nicklaus with unimaginable speed. Once he was hit, a huge explosion like countless thunder occured and Nicklaus's body was going out of the explosion in his normal size. They all thought he was down for the count until he started laughing.
"That was amazing!" he said as he got up, all his injuries gone. "Let's do that again but on equal playing ground." He closed his eyes and suddenly, his sword started leaking out the pale blue threads of light. They spread the his body as if a child running to his mother and his aura suddenly flared and every single hair on his body became pale blue. He opened glhis pale blue eyes and grinned at the dumbstruck Theodore.
"So this is the Dao of sword. It feels like I can cut anything even with my hair. You have such an amazing skill and you can't use it to its true potential. So disappointing. Once you have mastered it to perfection we will battle again."
"What do you mean true potential? This is it's true potential," Theodore said.
"This is just a fraction," Nicklaus said then plucked a strand of hair from his head. He threw it at Theodore and every just saw a pale blue ray of light speed past him. When they looked down, they saw a long scar made from a sharp sword straying from Nicklaus and going to half a kilometre. Theodore broke into condition sweat as he knew he could have been Annahilation and nothing could have been left of him! Nicklaus changed back to normal and walked back to his dorm. He found Felix at the verge of breaking through so he did not disturb him and lay on his bed. Half an hour later, he broke through successfully. He opened his eyes and saw Nicklaus on his bed.
"You're back. How was it?" he asked and Nicklaus just sighed.
"He has promise but he's not there yet. I hope I gave him enough motivation to give me a fight that will make me pass out. Only one being made me faint and it was the greatest feeling in my life. Just the excitement of how strong I can become after ixwake up from fighting or out of a coma!" Theodore by then was shaking in excitement like a child on sugarrush.
That night, the sect master called all the hallmaster and sect elders for an emergency meeting. The other hallmaster had heard of how Theodore had been given mercy by a kid and told to practice more and decided to poke him with that.
"Theodore, I heard you got a thrashing from a kid," one of them said with a jeering laughter.
"A kid just told you that you're too weak to even give him a challenge! Are you going to take that while down?"
More jeers came until the sect master and sect protectors came. Everyone kept quiet as they watched them. Once the sect protectors are brought out, the sect was in serious trouble. They all got up and bowed until the five men were seated and so did they. There was silence for sometime before the sect master spoke.
"Out of everyone in here, no one can best that boy that fought with Theodore so don't jeer at him. In fact, he fared better because he showed him a good skill. The rest of you would have been in the hospital critically injured otlr worse," the sect master said.
"But we are all in Marquis Level. We are one foot away to the Legendary realm," one of them said.
"I felt the kid's aura. He might be in the Marquis Level but his strength alone is equal to King Level experts. In fact, we are unsure whether me and the protectors would have fought him equally before he got Sword Dao from Theodore," the sect master said and everyone turned to look at Theodore at blame.
"This is noone's mistake. The boy can copy, improve and use the skill he sees immediately. Theodore was just s treasure trove for him and he's hoping to get more out of him the next time they fight," one of the protectors said. There was an unnerving silence in the great hall suddenly when one elder decided to speak out.
"I would suggest the sect master to let the boy become an elder or guest elder in our sect. It appears our sect just got a dragon without any of the other sects even knowing about him," he said.
"That's true. Our sect is only known for apothecaries. Our disciples are called trash fighters. So having such a genius with us would help our sect in many unimaginable ways," another one said.
"I would suggest we make him into an inner disciple gradually like six months away from the annual Continental Tournament. If he asks why we tell him that there will be geniuses there that he can fight and can give him a good fight. That way we have ourselves the first position by default," another elder said and the hall became quiet suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him, cursing why they never thought about that.
"If it was any other person, it would have been a stupid decision. But Nicklaus loves fighting, I could see it in his eyes. He will not even question whether we're using him or not as long as we tell him that he's gonna fight geniuses from other sects," Theodore said.
"Okay, it's decided. We will do as discussed by our to brothers. This meeting is adjourned for now," the sect master said.